Questions- Restarting 28mm 1879 Anglo Zulu War. Which figures and buildings?

[Mick_in_Switzerland]

Many years ago, back in 2008, I built armies for the 1879 Anglo Zulu War using Black-Tree metal and Wargames Factory plastic figures.
I also wrote painting guides for Wargames Factory and a Zulu army guide in 2009.

I want to revisit the period, paint some new figures and make some scenery.

I have a few Empress Figures and Perry Figures.
I note that Warlord and Perry also have plastic sets of figures.

1) If you were starting now, which figures would you buy and which mix together well?

2) 4Ground (still available via Warlord) and Sarissa Precision have kits for Rorke's Drift - which is best? are there others to consider?

Thanks
Mick

[SteveBurt]

Perry and Victrix figures for the period are great and work well together. Empress are noticeably smaller

[Mick_in_Switzerland]

@steve
Victrix do not make Anglo Zulu War figures - do you mean Warlord?

[SJWi]

Mick, I don't know what budget you have but Empress are £2 per figure, Perry metals £1.33 per figure. Perry plastics work out at c70p per figure and Warlord plastics £1 each .From what I can see a mix of Perry metals and plastics would be the best buy, and offer consistency in scale and sculpting style. The range also looks pretty comprehensive.   

[Mick_in_Switzerland]

My budget is not constrained so I will pick on the basis of quality of sculpt, compatibility and ease of painting.

I already have about 120 Wargames factory Zulus, which I want to replace with something nicer.
I am thinking of Perry plastic Zulus, because I will want at least 100 new figures.

British could be metal or plastic or both. I have had some metal sculpts that were rather disappointing.
I can remember that the pith hats are quite an issue.
I may buy a sample of each brand to try them out.

I will probably carve some scenery (part of Oscarsberg and Isandlwana hill) out of XPS foam.
I haven't decided whether to buy an MDF kit for Rorke's drift or to scratch build the buildings in XPS.

[sjwalker51]

It’s always subjective, but Perry plastics are probably your best (most historically accurate) option for Zulus, with Empress for their Imperial opponents.

I think the Redoubt Enterprises version of RD is still hard to beat.

And may I add a heartfelt thank you for your guides, which were immensely helpful when I first started out assembling forces for the period.

By coincidence, we’re planning a series of Zulu War games for the coming months, using suitably tweaked TMWWBK (Osprey) rules, which lend themselves to much larger actions than the skirmish level scenarios they appear to be written for.

[Mick_in_Switzerland]

sjwalker51

Thank-you for the compliment. I am glad that you found the guides useful.
I may update them as I do this project if I can find a place to publish them - we will see.

I will also be using Dan Mersey's TMWWBK rules.

[Helen]

Hi Mick,

I wanted to pitch in with some suggestions, but waited for others to do likewise before replying.

If you look at my link on my Zulu Project I've just used Perry Miniatures plastics and metals with some modelling:
https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=130369.0

I can provide some additional pictures of the Perry plastic Zulus too although the bases are not completed.

Hope this helps you.

[Mick_in_Switzerland]

Helen - I have already been looking at your project and I am am very impressed .

[Helen]

Helen - I have already been looking at your project and I am am very impressed .

Thank you. I'm hoping we will see the wagons from Michael Perry at some point.